Want to incorporate a sliding door somewhere in your house? Me too! Freaked out by the price of barn door hardware? Me too! But check it out, I received an email from a sweet gal named Brier this week, and she and her hubby figured out an easy way to get the look for less. Check it out…
“Hi Layla, my name is Brier and I follow you on Pinterest. I noticed that you pinned a sliding barn door photo. I really love that look and wanted one for our hallway, but barn door hardware is expensive, man! I tried to justify spending twice what we paid for the door itself on the hardware, but that didn’t fly. Luckily for us, my husband is a genius! Ours doesn’t quite have the “barn door” look, but I think it’s pretty and it was a whole lot easier than ripping out a wall to put in a pocket door.
Here’s how he did it:
First, he got a piece of double track (the kind that’s attached to the top of mirrored sliding closet doors) and separated it in half- so instead of two tracks, there was only one track. (I don’t actually know if you can buy a one-track…um, track…but, if so, that would be easier).
Next, he spray-painted the track flat black, and mounted it to the bottom of a 2″ x 6″ piece of wood that he distressed and stained to match the door. After that, he mounted the 2×6 to the wall above the door frame so the door would stick out far enough from the wall to get past the door frame molding. Then, he attached the “cars” (the rollers that fit in the track) to the top edge of the door, and slid it into the track.
To prevent the door from swinging out into the room, he mounted some little rubber “stops” to a couple of chunks of wood that are screwed down into the floor…
There’s one on the opposite side of the door opening too…
Pretty cool idea, huh?
Thanks for sharing your project with us Brier. We’ll definitely be trying it out here at TLC when we get around to working on our master bathroom door project!
Totally awesome and totally simple! What a great idea!! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this great idea! This couple can really think outside of the box.
I love this! Did they make their own door too?
Great tutorial and result! We’ve been wanting to add one to our master bath, but the price of hardware has been scaring me off, too! Love this solution!
What a great idea! My mom has been looking to do this to the bathroom door in her bedroom but it is so expensive. This looks affordable and easy enough for us to do ourselves!
I’ve SOOO been wanting to do this. I want to place this on my main hallway bathroom but trying to figure out how to do a locking mechanism or at least a latch or hook? Not sure how, but this is awesome. Thanks so much to the both of you smart ladies…oh and you husband 🙂
Hey Kim,
Use an old window latch. Just mount the moving part of the latch on the door, and the stationary part on the door jamb. You’ll have to install is sideways, but it will work.
AWESOME!
Beautiful! I’d love one of these in our dining room!
Aloha,
Charlie
I have been planning a barn door for our laundry door too, and considered something like this, but I’m wondering about the weight? Most wood barn doors are heavier than closet doors, by a lot. Wondering how that would hold up with use, or if it would eventually pull out of the door?
So great! That barn door hardware is crazy expensive. I knew there was a way to do it another way.
Clever! Thanks for sharing this one!
That is pretty cool!!!
love this and really want to do it in my apartment. any ideas where they got the door?
Where do you find an affordable door like that?
That is WAY cool! We were just at an industrial home store this weekend that had a big barn door done up like that and I was soooo jealous!
AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing:)
Love this. We have a pantry in our breakfast nook and the door opens into the table area (very inconvenient and in the way). I had mentioned to my husband I thought a sliding “barn” like door would be so cool. He thought it would be too expensive and next to impossible. Hah, here is the solution! Yay!
Layla,
So glad Brier e-mailed you and you in turn shared with us! This is a brilliant and creative way to get the barn door look for so much less!
Too bad we are already in the process of installing a barn door or I would have used this method.
Your Friend,
Deborah
Layla, this is a terrific post. And as the look is somewhat trendy, changing it down the road will be do-able and relatively painless with a bit of spackle and paint. Brava.
Awesome post, Layla! Oh how I wish I had a door opening that I could hand a sliding door on!
I LOVE this solution! Both price-wise and looks-wise, I like it better than the rustic barn-door option. You smart, hard-working people impress me. And you know who you are!!!!!
I don’t see any prices or cost estimates listed. Would that be a possibility as well as where the supplies were purchased? Thanks!
Hi Ashley,
We got the doors at Home Depot (in Canada). They weren’t cheap (solid wood and all that), but they’re beautiful and built to last. Somewhere around $200? Depending on the size of your door and the extras you choose (patterned glass, primed wood, etc.) it could be more or less.
(http://www.homedepot.ca/product/24×80-zen-style-interior-5-lite-door-with-morocco-privacy-glass-in-clear-pi/979683)
The hardware came from Menards (http://www.menards.com) in the States and it was somewhere around $20.
Hope that helps!
Brier~How do you keep the doors from swinging out before it hits the stopper? So happy that you sent this because I had just had someone the day before come out to give me a quote for a pocket door effect (effect because I didn’t want to have to rip any walls out). Now I know I could do this myself! Thank again!
Hi Michelle,
There are two stoppers on either side of the door frame, so no matter where the door is (in terms of opening progression), it always has at least one stopper …um…stopping it from swinging out into the room.
Did I use the word stop enough yet? Cause I don’t have to stop yet!…um…
Actually, I’d better.
Good luck DIY. It’s super simple! (And I can totally say that because my husband did the whole thing, not me! Hee!)
If anyone is looking for a more inexpensive option to build the door rather than buy it, I built my own of this style for about half the price:
http://www.oldpaintdesign.com/2011/09/21/behind-door-number-one/
What a great alternative for the expensive hardware for the sliding door. I’ve been wanting to replace a bathroom pocket door and a closed pocket door for ions. I think my hubby can do this!
I lived in Shanghai for 3 years and our house had tons of these “external” sliding doors. The way ours were made in China is very similar to this only instead of leaving the hardware exposed at the top, a simple cornice of sorts was built that came down just low enough to cover the hardware so from the front it just looked like a really cool molding that ran across the top of the doors. I don’t know if that makes sense…but it’s just another option for doing it without it costing a fortune.
This is genius. Totally remembering this for my house and like…4 barn doors I want to put in.
Thank you sooooo much for passing this along. I have been waiting, and waiting for a barn-door-hardware solution for the budget minded.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing this.
Wow, this door is so amazing. I love the color of the wood and the DIY initiative. Also love how you came to find this, simply through Pinterest and a responsive reader. So great!
http://hangingdoorhardware.com/pocketdoors/pocket_door_track.htm#J100
Source for the hardware.
This is really neat. I would love a barn door in my bedroom leading into the bathroom. We don’t have the wall space for so I guess I will just admire everyone else’s.
I love to see the genius of husbands making our homes special! Hats off to yours, Brier!
I have just the spot for that! A short hallway that leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom but it’s close to the kitchen and living area and a sliding door like this would be perfect…I could close off that bed/bath area for more privacy and it would be quieter in the bedroom area! Wow! Thanks for this post.
Wow! Fabulous project, love it! Thanks for posting for us, Lay!
SOOO excited by this idea! We have a teeny tiny downstairs bathroom that is begging for a pocket door but since I don’t (well, my husband) want to tear down a wall this seems to be the perfect solution! Awesome.
This looks great and so affordable. Am I the only one that doesn’t know where the locking mechanism goes (if that’s even possible)? I too, would like to put it on a bathroom that could really use the space-saving option, but it definitely needs to be able to lock. Help?!
Brilliant! I’m soooo doing it in our downstairs family room. I have been thinking I will use inexpensive slab doors (like on a closet that uses those tracks) and paint them flat black for the kids to use as chalkboards in the play area:)
Sliding doors can always be so tricky. Well done!
Was totally inspired that the task no longer seems as daunting…I might even try to take it on as a spring project! Thanks for sharing, also posted about this in my blog! 🙂
I need to do this!
I built his and her closets in our bedroom and have been trying to figure out what type of doors to use. I love these! I wonder how difficult it would be to modify them for closets?
Brilliant! Now I just need to figure out where to put one!
So genius! I have loved the barn door look for so long, but have been scared off by the price of the hardware. Definitely bookmarking this page!
Brillant! I am so doing this not that I see how it can be done cheaper. Thanks for posting.
What a co-inky-dink!!!!
Yesterday I emailed y’all about a fix for my kitchen pantry doors. Now this!!!! Looks like quite a few of us have this same dilema!!!!
Can we have a little more discussion on “door ideas”???? My problem…er….situation….. is the darn kitchen bi-fold doors that I hate! How about some door alternatives?????
Pretty please!!!!!?????
Awesome. I love that look and now can afford it. Wonder where I’ll put it?
Just watched Traci’s latest video. Does Eli realize that you’re married to Kevin? I think he’s in love!
I don’t necessarily love sliding doors, but this is a great way to be able to get one for a reasonable price and not too much building hassle. I also love the fact that the husband thought about the fact that sliding doors that swing outward are extremely annoying, and made that rubber stopper as a fix.Is there a better type/style of door to get when thinking about putting in a sliding door? For instance, does it have to be a more narrow build to accommodate this track?
And what did SHE do for him? Because this is pretty spectacular! ; ) In fact, I just sent the link to my husband in a what “Look what this guy did” email. ; )
SO glad to see their door stop solution. I’ve had my barn door up since last year and could never figure this out. The barn door was a real pain in the behind to construct and hang, but I love it. It opens up the space in my bathroom and is just what I needed.
A little warning…. When we wanted to put this type of door in our hallway that leads to the bedrooms, our architect would not let us! He was concerned that if there were a fire, it would be too difficult to open them in a panic. You may want to consider where you place this kind of door and about leaving them closed at night if they lead to bedrooms..
Thanks for the heads up! We actually leave it open most of the time. It leads to a back room that doubles as a guest “area,” so it’s more for privacy in that case only.
Thanks so much, I’ve been trying to figure out how to put a slider in front of our wet bar which has bifolds that are in the way when open. This might work if we can do something wide enough.